Golf club



March 1, 1960 K. STECHER GOLF CLUB Filed Sept. 26, 1955 IN VENTOR mm. sue-045R FIG. 3

United States Patent GOLF CLUB Karl Stecher, Chevy Chase, Md.

Application September 26, 1955, Serial No. 536,388

1 Claim. (Cl. 275-80) This invention relates to avocations of various kinds, including sports and the equipment employed in connection therewith, and more particularly to the game of golf, and to the clubs employed in the playing of the ame. g The invention relates specifically to the shorter golfing clubs or irons and to the configuration of the same as well as to the distribution of weight, which is of greatest importance in a device of this character with which a golf ball or. other articles are adapted to be hit and to the flight of the ball which it is desirable to control.

Short or iron clubs in use at the present time are constructed so that the head of the club projects at an angle from the lower end of the shaft or handle and the weight of the club head generally increases towards the free end. In the hitting position the club head is extended in a straight line away from the player. The face of the club head at the point of impact is substantially atright angles to the desired direction of flight of the ball.

In using the club the player first carefully assumes his stance and takes a firm grip on the handle of the club in order to overcome any tendency of the club to turn while it is in motion either on the backswing or on the forward stroke, particularly upon impact of the club head with the ball, the effect of such impact varying according to whether the club is gripped tightly or loosely.

It has long been the desire of designers of golf clubs to locate the center of the mass of the club head or blade as near as possible to the most desirable point of contact between the club head and the ball. Since the club head is disposed wholly on one side of the axis of the shaft, that is, wholly to the front of the shaft at the time of impact, there is a tendency for the club head to trail the shaft on the backswing forming an acute angle between the base of the club and the desired direction of flight of the ball and on the forward stroke there is a tendency of the club head to trail the shaft forming an oblique angle between the base of the club and the desired line of flight of the ball. 'It is desirable to overcome this tendency of the club to turn in the hands of the player on the back stroke, the forward stroke or on impact with the ball, which interferes with the accuracy of the shot without having to grip the club tightly in the hands.

It is an object of the invention to overcome the disadvantages above enumerated and to provide a golf club of the proper weight, distribution and balance so that it is unnecessary to grip the club tightly during its use but which will not have a tendency to move from proper position during the back swing, the forward stroke or upon impact of the club face with the ball.

Another object of the invention is to provide a golf club in which the construction is such that greater accuracy is possible with increased ease in the use of the club.

A further object is to provide a golf club in which ice the weight of the club head is so distributed that its center of gravity is substantially along the axis of the shaft extended so that the club head will be so well balanced that it shall easily spin around the shaft as an axis and in the use of which there is no tendency during the back swing for the head to swing out of position and during the stroke the desired follow through will be" easily and naturally accomplished and the club more readily lends itself to a perfect shot with desired follow through.

Other objects and advantages of the invention willbe apparent from the following description taken'in con junction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective illustrating one" application of the invention;

Fig. 2, a side elevation on a reduced scale of a complete club; and

Fig. 3, a bottom view of the club head of Fig. 1.

Briefly stated, the invention is a golf club having a shaft and a head disposed at an obtuse angle thereto with a curved shank connecting the shaft and head. Also, the longitudinal axis of the shaft extended'inter; sects the longitudinal axis of the head in such a manner that the weight on opposite sides of the axis is substantially equal so that the club head can rotate freely about such axis.

With reference to the drawing, the invention comprises a club with a shaft 10, having a handle grip 11 and a reduced lower portion 12 fixedly telescoped into the hollow upper end 13 of a club head 14. The handle grip 11 is made of material that can be firmly grasped by the hand without slippage and will not irritate the palm when perspiring. This material might be leather, plastic or other suitable material.

A curved portion '15 connects the blade 16 with the upper end 13 of the head 14. The head 14 is disposed at an obtuse angle to the shaft. The blade 16 has a roughened area 17 on its contact face for engagement with a golf ball without slippage.- Normally, this roughened area 17 comprises a plurality of horizontal ribs 18 but it could be abraded or have any other suitable roughened surface.

The invention is disclosed in the form of a putter although it could be in the form of any of the other types of clubs including drivers. The roughened area 17 shown in Fig. 1 can be on both sides of the putter blade 16 to enable the clubs use by either right or left handed people.

With continued reference to Fig. 1, vertical axis AA is shown which extends through a point immediately behind the contact point P between the blade 16 and the golf ball. The extended longitudinal axis B-B of the shaft 10 also passes through such point. The contact point P is the proper and intended point for engagement with a golf ball during the stroke of the club. The whole club is designed around point P.

The club head 14 is designed to have the weight at opposite sides of its extended longitudinal axis B--B equal so that they balance each other. This balance is achieved by making the outer free end of the blade 16 which extends from the axis B-B thicker and wider than the inner end which is connected to the curved shank 15 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The thicker and wider free end of the blade 16 is heavier thereby balancing it against the combined weight of the inner end of the blade 16 plus the connecting curved portion 15.

From this it can be seen that the club is balanced in such a manner that it can be freely rotated about the shaft 10 as an axis without a tendency of the club to stop in any particular position. This test will easily Patented Mar. 1, 1960f 3 and quickly determine whether the club is balanced about the axis of shaft 10.

When the applicants golf club is swung, the club will not have a tendency to rotate at the end of either the backward onforwardswingdue to its balance nor will.

it tend to rotate when striking the ball. This is-because the ball isstruck on the axis of the shaft and not to one side of the axis which would produce a resultant torque on the club.

From this it can be seen that applicant has produced a golf club that can be used by amateurs as well as pro fessionals to aid in improving their game. The club of the present invention will not have a tendency to rotate in the hand, being perfectly balanced, and con sequently, will not have to be gripped as tightly as necessary with the older style clubs. This will allow the player to relax more and as a result, a player using clubs according to this invention will be less tired at the end of the game.

Also, as it is not necessary to grip the applicants club tightly, the hand grip of the club will not tend to cause irritation to a players palms as may be caused by the use of older type clubs.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claim.

What is claimed is:

A golf iron comprising a straight elongated shaft, a relatively flat elongated blade and a curved connecting shank portion, said shaft including a gripping surface at one end of the length thereof, said curved shank portion having one of its ends connected to the other end of the shaft and diverging away from the longitudinal axis of the shaft at an obtuse angle to the longitudinal 4 axis of the shaft, the other end of the curved shank portion terminating a substantial distance away from said longitudinal axis, said blade being attached at one of its extreme ends to the other end of the curved shank portion, the other end of the blade being free, the imaginary extension of the longitudinal axis of the shaft entering the elongated blade centrally between the ends of the blade, the elongated blade having a leading striking face and a rear following face on opposite sides of the imaginary extension of the longitudinal axis, the weight of'the blade and curved shank portion being so distributed 'as to balance about the longitudinal axis of the shaft,

said other free end of the blade being thicker and of greater height than said one end of the blade to effect said balance, the extended longitudinal axis of the shaft passing through the blade directly behind the intended point of impact with the ball, the portion of the length of the blade from the longitudinal axis to the free end of the blade being extended and greater than the length of the portion of the blade from the longitudinal axis of the shaft to the one end of the blade connected to the curved shank portion, the shank portion compensating for the difference in length between the free end portion and the shank end portion of the blade to maintain the balance about the longitudinal axis of the shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 722,927 Swift Mar. 17, 1903 807,224 Vaile Dec. 12, 1905 1,064,916 Kelly et a1. June 17, 1913 1,250,296 Fitzjohn et al. Dec. 18, 1917 1,703,199 McClure Feb. 26, 1929 1,917,774 Ogg et al. July 11, 1933 2,088,095 Sargent July 27, 1937 2,146,048 Barnhart Feb. 7, 1939 

